


an unexpected meeting in cokeworth (circa 1979, colorized)

by sass_quatch



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (mentioned) - Freeform, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Young Severus Snape, idk man it's just me brainstorming into the void, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:48:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24383803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sass_quatch/pseuds/sass_quatch
Summary: Evan's not expecting to run into anyone he knows. Why would he? It's a little Mudblood street in a tiny Mudblood town, and the only reason he's even here is to collecthisMudblood and take him back to the Wizarding World where he belongs. Otherwise, he wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near Spinner's End. One would be hard pressed to find him eventhinkingof Cokeworth with anything but disdain, normally.Alas, however, because unfortunately for Pureblood, elitist Evan Rosier, he, whilst on his way to procure Severus Snape—Halfblood, damned brilliant and the only Mudblood Evan could stomach being this friendly with—runs into Lily Evans. The SaintlyMuggleborn, the Bright One, the Exalted Poster Witch for the Light herself.Well, this won't do at all.Or: Lily Evans misses her best friend. What better way to start mending fences than to invite him to her wedding? Evan Rosier explains why this is an awful idea, (although, admittedly, he is quite biased).
Relationships: Evan Rosier & Severus Snape (mentioned), James Potter/Lily Evans Potter (mentioned), Lily Evans Potter & Severus Snape (Mentioned)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	an unexpected meeting in cokeworth (circa 1979, colorized)

**Author's Note:**

> I remember seeing (what may have been a headcanon?) at some point that Lily actually came really close to forgiving Severus and, after thinking about why that ended up not happening, came up with a few ideas. This is one of them. Enjoy! 😊

Evan's not expecting to run into anyone he knows. Why would he? It's a little Mudblood street in a tiny Mudblood town, and the only reason he's even here is to collect _his_ Mudblood and take him back to the Wizarding World where he belongs. Otherwise, he wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near Spinner's End. One would be hard pressed to find him _even_ thinking of Cokeworth with anything but disdain, normally. 

Alas, however, because unfortunately for Pureblood, elitist Evan Rosier, he, whilst on his way to procure Severus Snape—Halfblood, damned brilliant and the only Mudblood Evan could stomach being this friendly with—runs into Lily Evans. The Saintly _Muggleborn_ , the Bright One, the Exalted Poster Witch for the Light herself. 

Well... he doesn't run into her, per se. He doesn't even see her until she's coming down the street to the doorstep he's unfortunately going to have to stand on with... a letter, of all things. Interesting, considering she'd been very adamant on having nothing to with Severus after their little spat back in Fifth Year. Well. _This merits investigating_ , he thinks, with a little hum. So, he walks up to the front of the house, leans against the wall and waits. 

She's walking quickly, so, by the time he's made himself comfortable, she's already coming up to the door. She stops short when she sees him, jaw tightening, chin raising in... is that _defiance_? Evan really can't help himself, he laughs a little. Her pretty little face tightens even more. "Rosier," she greets coldly. "I would've thought you lot wouldn't find yourselves in a _Mudblood_ neighbourhood for anything."

"You said it, not me," he says with a rakish grin, raising his hands in faux apology. "But, just between us, I don't know if you've heard, but, ah. That's a bad word, you know."

She scowls. "Why are you here?" 

Evan's heard much more polite ways of saying "Cut the bullshit," but he'll take what he can get. "Well, sweetheart, I'd've thought that'd be obvious," he says, exaggeratedly tapping his knuckles against the weathered stone above his head. "I'm here to meet a friend. We're going out to dinner, and with any luck... never coming back." He looks around a bit, shuffling his features until he's certain the distaste in his expression can't be missed. "And what are _you_ doing here, soon-to-be Mrs. Potter?"

Her expression shutters even further, so quickly, in fact, that Evan is almost impressed. "If it's going to be like that, then, I propose we take this elsewhere. Not that it's any of your business whether or not I speak with an old friend."

"Oh, you made it very clear what you thought of your _friendship_ , Evans. Lead the way." He thinks he can see her temper rising, like the little gauge you see when you cast _Thermometrum_. Getting higher and higher and hotter and hotter, until everything shatters. It's a very satisfying visual.

She takes them to a park. It's not too far from the house and just as broken down down as the rest of the place. She doesn't seem to mind, sitting down on a swing that creaks the second she comes into contact with it. She looks as him almost like she expects him to sit on the other. He scoffs, mentally, and leans against the frame instead. "What's with the letter, Evans?" he says, out loud.

"What's with the interrogation, Rosier?" she responds instantly, and honestly, it's not too hard to see why Severus likes her. It's a shame that Evan really doesn't.

"Just curious," he says, and it's true. It's not like he's planning to destroy it, or something. 

"It's an invitation... to the... to the wedding." She looks down at the envelope in her lap like it holds the answer to every question, worries the corners, drags her nail beneath the flap. Evan can't help himself, yet again. He barks a short little laugh, manages to stop himself even before she levels accusatory green eyes at him.

"You can't be serious," he tells her through another short chuckle. "You _cannot_ do that. Oh, that's cruel, Evans. You'd fit right in the worst of them if you pulled that off." 

"What do you mean?" She clutches the envelope closer.

"And you probably thought it'd be a good idea, too, to start rebuilding bridges between you two... a nice little fix-it, am I right?"

"I-"

"Evans, doll," he says, "really, truly. I'm not a nice person, but not even I would do this. You're going to invite him to your wedding, where you, his former best friend, are going to get married to the man who helped make his life hell for seven years straight—and wait, don't tell me... Lupin, Black and Pettigrew are groomsmen. Now, see... I can tell you right here, right now that he'd say yes in a heartbeat. He'd come, all dressed up, and sit through that service and it'd fucking kill him. I'd be impressed if I wasn't disappointed, really."

"I didn't think—it wouldn't—"

"Listen to me," he says, in the tone that reminds people that he is the Rosier scion and that means that whether or not he is feared, respected or liked, he is _not_ to be ignored. "It would _destroy_ him, because he loves you, you know that?"

She opens her mouth; it's probably only a bit of shock, but he doesn't hesitate. " _Listen_ ," he hisses. "He loves you, even if he doesn't realise it. Made it bloody obvious, too. You know how _hard_ we had to work to try and train him out of that? And it didn't even _fucking_ work. All that time we spent, even the thing with MacDonald, and imagine, you insulted him—on top of Potter and Black being arseholes, might I add—and refused his apology and yet, the second Wilkes called you a two-faced bitch, her tongue was glued to the inside of her mouth for the next two days, courtesy of guess _fucking_ who? It would've been longer, too, if Flitwick hadn't noticed that it was preventing her from casting in class. Don't do it, Evans. I guarantee he'd come crawling back, but, at the very least, don't insult him by inviting him to the wedding where you're going to marry the fucker that treat him like shit through all seven years we went to school."

"But James stopped—" she starts.

"Did he?" Evan asks. "Did he, really? Because the amount of times I dragged him to the Hospital Wing after Potter got his hands on him say otherwise. Pomfrey was probably sick of us, to be quite honest."

"He wouldn't have—"

"Wouldn't he?" Evan moves solely so he can look her dead in the eye and up his intimidation factor. "Think about it. Honestly, I think anyone who could save someone just to go and humiliate them, to nearly kill them all over again is capable of a lot of things, and not all of them are good. Merlin, those fuckers were lucky Slughorn wanted to speak to me after the exam or I'd've gone straight to Azkaban for the hell I was going to raise."

She's silent for a minute, continuing to stare at the envelope. He checks his watch, a fancy little pocket thing with a built in _Tempus_ and a miniature hourglass. "You can sit here and keep looking at that bit of paper if you like, but I'm just letting you know that in fifteen minutes, I'll be going to collect him. Narcissa will not be pleased if we're late to dinner. Whether or not you choose to give him the invitation between now and then is up to you."

She gets up, looking thoughtful, and disappears back the way they came. Evan shrugs. He gave her the headstart for a reason. Besides, if things go the way he expects, he could give her forever and that invitation wouldn't find itself anywhere _near_ Severus' hands, which is exactly the way he wanted it. Perfect.


End file.
